Sunday, April 13, 2014

President Michelle Bachelet declared the massive blaze threatening the
city — whose historic center is a protected Unesco heritage site — a disaster
zone, permitting the armed forces to step in.

This land has some
connectivity to the Inca civilization and was in news in Feb 2010 for the
devastating earthquake that occurred off the coast of Maule region rating 8.8
on Richter scale and lasting upto 90 seconds. It is also the land when thousands
of years ago, migrating native Americans settled in fertile valleys and coastal
areas. Earlier the whole World was
concerned about the lives of miners in this South American coastal country
lying between Andes Mountains and Pacific ocean. Mining sector is one of the pillars of its
economy and copper experts alone stands for more than one thirds of its income.
You might also know Odyssey, a Greek epic – the story of Odysseus (Ulysses)
long journey of ten years in reaching back home after fall of Troy.

It is Chile, officially the
Republic of Chile which borders Peru, Bolivia, Argentina. Valparaíso is a
city, port, and commune of Chile. Although Santiago is Chile's official capital,
the National Congress of Chile has met in Valparaíso since 1990. The earlier incident referred was the
harrowing times of 33 miners trapped approx 2300 ft below ground when the roof
of San Jose copper gold mine in Chile collapsed in Aug 2010.

Now there are varying
reports of the casualties and no. Of houses destroyed ..... between 4 to 11
lives; close to 1000 houses destroyed ~ and thousands of people evacuated after
a devastating fire rummaged Chile, now declared a 'catastrophe zone' by
country's president. Daily Mail, BBC and
many other news channels report that huge fire started in Valparaiso, a coastal
city 75 miles from Santiago. The armed
forces have been called in to maintain law and order in the city while
thousands of people were evacuated. Reports state that huge numbers of homes -
many in the steep hills around the city itself - as well as a women's prison
were emptied of their residents in a bid to save them from the destruction.
Firefighters were having difficulty combating the blaze because of the
topography of the city, which is surrounded by dozens of steep hills where most
people live.

President Michelle Bachelet
has declared the city a catastrophe zone, which allows the army to step in and
take charge of the evacuations. Ricardo Bravo, the area's regional governor,
called the blaze 'the worst disaster ever seen.' Thick clouds of smoke
surrounded the city's prison and nine pregnant inmates were transferred to a
detention facility in the nearby city of Quillota. Prison authorities were
evacuating another 204 female inmates to a sports arena. The remaining 2,700
male inmates will stay at the prison for the time being, prison guard commander
Tulio Arce said.

While firefighters, police and forest rangers battled the
blaze, Chilean marines in combat gear patrolled streets in the city to maintain
order and prevent looting. Valparaiso, about 120 kilometers (75 miles)
northwest of the capital, Santiago, is home to Chile's national legislature.

A wildfire also called forest fire
is an uncontrolled fire in an area of combustible vegetation that occurs
in the countryside or a wilderness area.
A wildfire differs from other fires by its extensive size, the speed at
which it can spread out from its original source, its potential to change
direction unexpectedly, and its ability to jump gaps such as roads, rivers and
fire breaks. Wildfires are characterized in terms of the cause of ignition,
their physical properties such as speed of propagation, the combustible
material present, and the effect of weather on the fire.